ASDA'A BCW - GEMS Education Brand Management Campaign

Company: ASDA'A BCW, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesCompany Description: Over the last 15 years, ASDA'A BCW has earned its reputation as the Middle East’s leading public relations consultancy and the benchmark of PR practice in the region. The company’s growing list of prestigious clients and high-profile industry awards reflect this position. ASDA’A ASDA'A BCW, a WPP company, has 11 wholly owned offices and reaches into 18 Middle East nations.Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations CategoriesNomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Reputation/Brand Management

Nomination Title: We See Genius in Every Child – GEMS Education

Tell the story about this nominated campaign since 1 January 2017 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

OVERVIEW

GEMS Education is the world’s largest private education company with the goal to become the world’s most valuable educational company in 20 years. Despite its expansive market share in its home market of the UAE, GEMS Education was still losing many applications and enrolments to other schools, largely believed to be because of location. Recognising that the GEMS Education brand narrative lacked the charm that would give them undisputable competitive advantage in the region, GEMS Education engaged ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller to produce a creative advertising campaign concept that would help to position them as the school brand of choice and ultimately encourage parents to think beyond school proximity when selecting a school for their child.

SITUATION ANALYSIS

We needed to define and communicate GEMS Education’s core values in a way that inspires a vast audience including parents, teachers, students, employees, governments, regulators to the institutions and the financial markets.

We had position GEMS Education as a brand that is optimistic, forward looking and innovative and one that straddles all GEMS Education offerings regardless of pricing, geographies, curriculums, public sector education and education for the underprivileged.

STRATEGY

We wanted to build an inspiring, noble and socially responsible master brand that appeals to the diverse target audiences yet positions the brand as one that values education above the commercial aspects of the business.

We asked for access to GEMS Education schools in Dubai over a week-long period. We immersed ourselves in the schools’ way of life and drew upon already existing values to support the new brand identity campaign. We ran a stringent set of focus group discussions spanning ethnicities and income levels and with GEMS parents and non-parents. We used these groups to better understand our audience but also to test our campaign ideas for resonance.

Our strategy was to own the emotional high ground of education. Our campaign would be built around the concept that most parents will do anything to secure a better future for their children, and GEMS Education can help build that future for their child.

’WE SEE GENIUS EVERYWHERE’ campaign was born. The concept that every child has the potential to be great, but few are given the opportunity to explore their true capabilities. We positioned GEMS Education as the brand that believes that a quality education is a basic human right and key to unlocking the greatness that lies in every child.

EXECUTION

We captured the parent’s attention through a range of creative visuals and films that show how GEMS Education provide schools across the UAE that enable children to dream, explore new worlds, and push the formal education boundaries to discover their ‘Genius’.

Our print campaign consisted of four contrasting images to demonstrate the depth of a child’s imagination and the possibilities open to children should they be given the opportunity to attend a GEMS Education school.

Our video campaign depicted GEMS Education schools as very different from traditional schools in the UAE and a brand which prides itself on activity-based learning and providing each child with extra care and attention to reach their full potential.

IMPACT

GEMS Education recorded a 37.7% increase in website traffic throughout the campaign and deemed the campaign a huge success.

The 57 second YouTube video has been watched over 550,000 times.

The print campaign appeared in 18 insertions across five dailies and 17 insertions across 11 magazines.

Our video campaign was broadcast on two TV channels with 1416 sponsored credits (opening and closing). We also secured 140 sixty second spots across three channels. It appeared across 12 cinemas in the UAE during the month-long campaign, as well as across airport signage and a LED banner on Sheikh Zayed Road.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief features and results of this nominated PR program since the beginning of 2017 (up to 150 words).

CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS

-Successful focus group discussions defined the campaign strategy and execution
-Iconic visuals and a new brand position for GEMS Education created
-First school brand in the UAE to claim the emotional high ground of education
-GEMS Education recorded a 37.7% increase in website traffic throughout the campaign
-57 second YouTube video has 550,000 views
-Total campaign reach 4,546,630
-Total number of short video view 1,149,252
-1,768 likes and reactions on short videos
-113 shares of short videos
-38,977 clicks from short videos